Jake Jarman wins under 18 title as British Championships get underway

Jake Jarman from Huntingdon Olympic is the new British under 18 all-around champion as the opening day of the 2019 Gymnastics British Championships also saw titles won in the under 12 men’s and espoir (12/13 years) women’s competitions.

Having finished second in this competition last year, Jake returned to Liverpool at the M&S Bank Arena to go one better, taking top spot with a score of 81.350.

In second place was Raekwon Baptiste from Notts who showed his strength across the apparatus and was in the lead through four rotations, impressing to score 80.050. Winning bronze was Adam Tobin from Falcons who scored 79.000.

Doubling up as a competition for apparatus medals, Jake showed his huge twisting tumbles to take the floor title with a score of 14.450, and also scored highly on vault with 14.675 to win gold on that apparatus to crown a great day.

Jake said: "I feel really relieved it was a tough battle right to the end, we were all really close. I had to try and stay in my zone. I knew I had a big floor routine to get through, my legs were burning but I fought through and that was one of the routines that made the difference. I’m really really happy."

It was a good day too for Adam who added the rings (13.150) and pommel horse (13.600) titles to add to his all-around bronze. Raekwon took home parallel bars gold (13.750) and Matthew Boardman from Notts won high bar gold (13.100).

In the women’s espoir (12/13 years) it was Jea Brittany Maracha from Clwb Cymru who took all-around gold in a high-scoring competition. Her total of 51.800 was enough to take the title ahead of Mia Evans from Park Wrekin who won silver with 51.550, and winning bronze was Jea’s teammate Poppy-Grace Stickler, also from Clwb Cymru with a total of 51.200.

The top eight gymnasts on each piece also qualified for Sunday morning’s apparatus finals.

George Atkins from South Essex had a day to remember as he dominated from start to finish in the men’s under 12 competition, scoring an impressive 75.300 all-around to take the title. Winning silver was Ricco Regini-Moran (70.950) from Pegasus, with Gabriel Langton from City of Birmingham who scored 69.650 to took bronze.

This competition also served as the men’s under 12 apparatus finals with George topping the scoring in five of the six apparatus titles. He took top spot on pommel horse (11.600), rings (12.700), parallel bars (13.300), high bar (12.100) and vault, where he shared gold with Ricco and Sol Scott from Huntingdon, with all three inseparable, scoring 13.150. Winning gold on floor was James Landridge from South Essex, who scored 12.550.